Native New Orleans MC Jay Electronica has been described as many things: earth-shattering hip hop saviour, enigma, renaissance man, prism, geek…
However you eulogise, he's undoubtedly a gifted lyricist and surrealist, blessed with great tone, a vivid imagination and a good ear. Awake to a full spectrum of sound and emotion, from circular cinematic moods such as Jon Brion's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, to Just Blaze beats.
Interestingly, he's managed to shake up hip hop without a major album release, relying on sneaky mp3 leaks to random blogs, which not only managed to survive the fickle, unforgiving and frequently intemperate forum analysis, it amplified his legend to new heights.
Sure, being the beau of Erykah Badu hasn't harmed his cause but Jay's been purposefully walking the earth from Atlanta to Asia, studying the game and sharing powerful music with the world, beginning in 2004 with the Style Wars EP, which featured beats by the late J Dilla.
Fast forward to 2010 and he's made 30,000 downloads of the 'Act 1: The Pledge' mixtape direct from his MySpace, produced Nas ('Queens Get the Money' from 2008's 'Untitled') and conquered both iTunes and US radio with 'Exhibit C'.
If the hip hop-buying public can adopt half the vision and heart of this man – to a point where hip hop culture means travelling and reading, energy and spirituality – then the world will be a better place.
Flying in on 17 February for only his second London appearance, more than two years after winning the crowd at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards, Jay will bring true hip hop swagger and savoir faire to the Jazz Cafe, something that has been sorely lacking in recent months. It's a new dawn.
MEET Jay Elecronica:
CONNECT with him here:
>> www.myspace.com/jayelectronica
LISTEN to his podcast with GP here, including as yet unreleased extracts from Act II:
>> http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/01/11/jay-electronica-on-gilles-peterson-worldwide-act-ii-patents-of-nobility-tracks/
DOWNLOAD DJ Dub and Furious ' Jay Electronica 'Victory' mixtape here:
>> www.sendspace.com/file/rpkjb7
WATCH a recent performance of the heavy hitter 'Exhibit C' in NYC featuring Mos Def, Talib Kweli and the Diddy shimmy:
